Top Ten Books I Had to Have...but are STILL Languishing on the Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They love to share their lists with other bookish folks and LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they post a new Top Ten list complete with one of their bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time...just post what you can!

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Laura's Top Ten Books I Had to Have...but are STILL Languishing on the Bookshelf

1. The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson
   I bought the audiobooks when they were first released because my husband & I were both interested in them, and we listen to audiobooks together on road trips.  They are still on the shelf almost a year later...one road trip this year, and not long enough for even one of those books.  Sad.
2. A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khalid Hosseini
   I bought the audio version of this and The Kite Runner at the same time.  Listened to The Kite Runner and LOVED it, but have not gotten to this yet.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
   This set has been on my shelf for at least 10 years, and has followed me through several moves.  I purchased it with the conviction that I should read it, because it's an incredible shame that I never even knew they existed when I was an adolescent.  Still there...still waiting...
4. Hearts in Atlantis & Insomnia by Stephen King
   I have loved Stephen King since I was in 9th grade, and have devoured 30ish of his books over the years.  For some reason these never made it past the bookshelf, and I eventually got rid of both, though I have since re-purchased Hearts in Atlantis in audio format.  The last several King books I've "read" were actually listening experiences, and that is proving to be my preference lately.
5. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
   Purchased for a book group read, I had grand hopes of finishing it.  I barely got started, and with the distractions of a new baby and home renovations, it was abandoned and is still on the shelf.  I haven't discarded it, so there is hope that eventually it will make it into the pile of current reads.
6. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
   I bought this book when it was causing a stir on the book scene, and it sat on the shelf for years.  I finally sold it to the used bookstore, only to repurchase in audio format.  Still there, but I'm hoping to get to it this year.
7. The Bourne Series by Robert Ludlum
   These sat on my shelf for years until I finally sold them when I was getting ready to move out of state.  They were a recommendation from my brother, and for some reason I never got excited about reading them, even after having seen the movies.  They are still on my TBR list, so hope is still alive that I will read them one day.
8. Everything Monica McInerney has written
   McInerney is an Australian author, and I stumbled across her books Family Baggage and The Alphabet Sisters through www.dearreader.com.  I devoured those books and started looking for more, only to discover that the rest of her books had only been published in Australia.  Thanks to my online book club, I had a contact, and over the next year I exchanged books with her...she sent me the McInerney books I couldn't get in the States, and I sent her book club selections that were difficult for her to find.  I have read a couple more of them and I love them, but I hate the thought of finishing the and having no more to look forward to, so I space them out.  Silly, I know, but sadly true.
9. Complete sets of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway
   For some reason, I thought I needed "the complete set" of whatever classic author was on the radar at the moment.  So I bought them...in fact, I bought the book club editions, which have virtually no resale value when one decides to part with them.  I have not parted with them, but I've not read them either.  They do, at least, look good on the bookshelf.
10. The Space Between Us & If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar
    I have been on an Indian literature kick for the past couple of years.  It's not a constant pursuit, but when I find Indian novels that look interesting, I can't resist buying them.  Not only did I purchase these, but I bought The Space Between Us at full price, which is almost unheard of for me.  They are still on the shelf, and I will get to them, but I signed myself up for all these reading challenges this year...